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Saturday, November 1, 2008

LB's lost night

Cavs blog by Bob Finnan

When Cavaliers forward LeBron James struggles offensively, very seldom does his team win.

They had a golden opportunity to knock off the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday. They were playing without 7-1 center Tyson Chandler, who had 16 rebounds in the season opener, and 6-10 forward Peja Stojakovic.

But it didn't matter because James could never get into any kind of groove. He ended with 15 points and made 6 of 15 shots from the field, 0 of 3 from behind the arc. His foul shooting has been off all year, but he made 3 of 4 on the night.

Observers kept waiting for James to get on one of his patented runs, but it never happened. Instead, they got to watch Hornets point guard Chris Paul take over the game.

Isn't that what James usually does? Cavs fans are accustomed to him taking over in the late stages. He turned the ball over five times on the night, as the Cavs had 18 turnovers, which led to 26 Hornets points.

Unless James decides to show up on Monday, the Cavs will lose again. Dallas is a formidable foe, especially at home.

2 Comments:

Blogger Melissa K said...

as long as we have the best player in the league receiving the ball 30 feet from the basket we will never win a championship.if he learned to operate where he belongs his assist would increase and he could get tea mates easy shots close to the basket instead of threes.we need a coach that understands the best shot is the one closest to the hoop.lebron should never take a three not because he cant make it but because has a better chance of making it 2 feet away

November 3, 2008 at 3:19 PM 
Blogger Matt said...

Bob,

First and foremost, watching the Cavaliers play with Lebron James is by far the best thing this city has going for them, in the sports genre.

That being said, on the nights that Lebron does struggle from the field, why does Mike Brown continue with the same high pick and roll scheme? If something is not going well, switch it up. Running Lebron off baseline screens and receiving the ball at or around the three point arc 85% of the time is extremely frustrating to watch. They did a much better job last night against Dallas at getting him low and letting him create around the rim. You have covered the Cavaliers for many years, what do you see when you watch because I do not feel like I am the only Cavalier fan that sees this.

Also, I do not mean to bash Mike Brown but, his plays out of timeouts and dead ball situations need some help. Passing the ball to Lebron and clearing out is not always going to work. Is there not a coach that is a X and O's type guy that can draw up successful plays that get easy looks at the basket for ANY of the Cavaliers?

I would really like to know what you think.

Thanks,

Matt Luthardt
Wickliffe

November 4, 2008 at 1:12 PM 

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